Pre-show, Tom Keifer informs Classic Rock that his band Cinderella are unlikely to record again, but voices the likelihood of a follow-up to The Way Life Goes – his debut solo record that he’s now toured for almost three years. Tonight, this seems debatable. The Academy is full, and the bulk of the 90-minute set comprises material dating back to Cinderella’s pre-millennial heyday.
Frankly, following six surgeries and re-learning to speak and sing (thanks to paresis, a partial paralysis of his left vocal cord), it’s a miracle that Keifer still performs anyway. Tonight it takes almost a half-hour to warm up, resulting in some wobbly early moments. Following a three-song unplugged section, however, which explodes into a big electric finish via the mega-ballad Don’t Know What You’ve Got (’Til It’s Gone), Keifer sounds more than acceptable.
Hook-laden and anthemic, It’s Not Enough and Solid Sound are the pick of the solo tunes. But it’s Cinderella numbers Bad Seamstress Blues/Falling Apart At The Seams, Somebody Save Me, Shake Me, Nobody’s Fool and, finally, a rousing, show-closing Gypsy Road that transform the crowd from a state of admiration into borderline hysteria.
That this could happen after tepid stabs at the Stones’ It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll (But I Like It) and With A Little Help From My Friends by The Beatles is pretty bloody miraculous.
